COVID-19 impact on MLB season

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I completely forgot that the Brewers had Ryon Healy as well. The roster is literally chok full of potential DH candidates for this season.

[MillerParkSouth]

The one potentially good outcome in all of this is squeezing a couple more years of Braun (at hopefully a reasonable salary of course).

[brewerfan82]

Correct, the pitcher bats for the remainder of the game, in Smoak's spot. Further subbing can ensue normally once that occurs, it'll be like NL rules once the pitcher is expected to bat.

 

Edit: Actually, I'm not as sure about if the pitcher would bat in Smoak's spot because technically the DH spot is the pitcher's spot in the line up. It might require a pitching change and then the new pitcher could be inserted into Smoak's spot and then bat for himself.

 

Ah... this seems to clear it up (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designated_hitter):

 

The designated hitter can be moved to a fielding position during the game. If the DH is moved to another position, his team forfeits the role of the designated hitter,[6] and the pitcher or another player (the latter possible only in case of a multiple substitution) would bat in the spot of the position player replaced by the former DH. If the designated hitter is moved to pitcher, any subsequent pitcher (or pinch-hitter thereof) would bat should that spot in the batting order come up again (except for a further multiple substitution). Likewise, if a pinch-hitter bats for a non-pitcher, and then remains in the game as the pitcher, the team would forfeit the use of the DH for the remainder of the game, and the player who was DH would become a position player (or exit the game).

[brewerfan82]

I completely forgot that the Brewers had Ryon Healy as well. The roster is literally coke full of potential DH candidates for this season.

Potentially Logan Morrison as well.

[sveumrules]

DH is definitely bad for small market teams. Must be a lot of young people on this board who forget that that the "no DH" factor was the Brewer's primary reason for jumping to the NL.

 

Last year only two AL teams had players get 500+ PAs in the DH spot, Minnesota & Oakland. Both small market playoff teams. Most teams seem to have moved away from the primary DH to rotating players through the spot in exchange for the additional roster flexibility.

 

If we had the DH sooner we could have kept Khris or Domingo or Ji-Man or even Garrett Cooper. With Stearns & company's track record of finding useful players on the cheap I think the DH will be just another weapon in their arsenal.

[SeaBass]

I think the argument for the DH causing a slight disadvantage to the Brewers/small markets is it could possibly drive pitching prices up even higher. I don't have stats but anecdotally I believe that not only did the AL have the overall edge on offense, I believe they had the edge on pitching over NL clubs. In my mind having the "easy out" in the line up could have devalued pitching in the NL to a slight degree that clubs would be just that tad bit more hesitant to out spend what an AL club might be willing to offer, because the AL clubs had the bigger challenge getting outs.

 

This is just pure speculation on my part, I haven't seen this brought up anywhere. It's just one of the possibilities I thought of, that NL clubs might now be a little more willing to compete with AL clubs for the best of the best pitching.

[KeithStone53151]

So new details emerging and the players apparently countered the owners offer. This is the first time I've gotten annoyed by the players. They get so many players including Trout/Harper/Cole behind this "say when and where"...Rob/Clark put together a pretty damn good package that gives them what they want...and they counter it. That's super annoying and is a bad look. I would argue the owners gave the players more than they were asking with the salary forgiveness and extra playoff money. I can understand wanting to play a few more games, but considering the offer...I think they needed to ask for more games, but then throw the owners a bone on the playoff money or somewhere to have it not look like they are asking for more money after they've been given more than they were asking for.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

So new details emerging and the players apparently countered the owners offer. This is the first time I've gotten annoyed by the players. They get so many players including Trout/Harper/Cole behind this "say when and where"...Rob/Clark put together a pretty damn good package that gives them what they want...and they counter it. That's super annoying and is a bad look. I would argue the owners gave the players more than they were asking with the salary forgiveness and extra playoff money. I can understand wanting to play a few more games, but considering the offer...I think they needed to ask for more games, but then throw the owners a bone on the playoff money or somewhere to have it not look like they are asking for more money after they've been given more than they were asking for.

 

Yep ... at this point it's a simple pissing match. I think several national writers jumped the gun yesterday declaring that an agreement was in place, but it did seem like it was a foregone conclusion. I didn't think there was any way that Rob Manfred could come out of this looking better than Tony Clark, but here we are.

[homer]

Cynical me thinks the owners leaked this like it was a done deal just to make the players look bad when they reject it.

 

Looks like its working.

[TURBO]

How can the players say things like "tell us when and where" then turn down the offer?

 

The players are starting to look bad here imo.

 

Both sides still to blame though.

[owbc]

Cynical me thinks the owners leaked this like it was a done deal just to make the players look bad when they reject it.

 

Looks like its working.

 

Whoever leaks first gets to control the storyline with the writers rushing to be the first to tweet about it. Manfred got to control the narrative about the latest round and put the players on the defensive.

 

That said...just get a freaking deal done already.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

How can the players say things like "tell us when and where" then turn down the offer?

 

The players are starting to look bad here imo.

 

Both sides still to blame though.

 

Exactly. Every time I try to say anything about the owners not deserving all the blame in this, some Twitter idiot calls me a bootlicker. Here I thought most people were smart enough to know that in situations of this magnitude, "right" and "wrong" is never, ever clear cut.

[pacopete4]

The players want to play obviously, but they don’t want to give in to all the demands of the owners. What good would that do them moving forward?

[SeaBass]

The 60 game scenario was an offer, not an agreement. By definition that means there was going to be a counteroffer. This 70 game counteroffer is also just an offer. Hmm, what's a number between 60 and 70...

 

So we're talking about 5 games, give or take a game or two. It's very close. No reason to jump off a building.

 

If either side lets this blow up now over 5 bloody games they're idiots. I can't think the playoff compensation is that far off either. This could all be over by tomorrow or this weekend. Let's hope.

[monty57]

The players want to play obviously, but they don’t want to give in to all the demands of the owners. What good would that do them moving forward?

 

It was a negotiation by the Commissioner and the head of the union, not an offer from the owners, and certainly not "all the demands of the owners." If the owners agreed to the deal and the players did not, then it seems that the Commissioner understands his constituency better than the head of the union understands his.

 

As far as "doing good going forward," I wouldn't think it gives the union boss much credibility when he negotiates one-on-one with the Commissioner and the players reject it. That makes him look weak.

[KeithStone53151]

 

I think this tweet/quote sums it all up pretty well. They weren't working together to build a floor from which the players could negotiate from...this is seriously a bad look for the players. Which is a shame because I think a significant majority of fans were on their side for a change up until today.

[sveumrules]

 

I think this tweet/quote sums it all up pretty well. They weren't working together to build a floor from which the players could negotiate from...this is seriously a bad look for the players. Which is a shame because I think a significant majority of fans were on their side for a change up until today.

 

Sounds to me more like Manfred trying to play the fans/players via the media again...

 

On 06/17 Rob characterized things as “a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement.”

 

That sounds a lot different than the quote in the Nightengale tweet, “I don’t know what Tony and I were doing there for several hours going back and forth and making trades if we weren’t reaching an agreement.”

 

The original quotes makes it pretty clear that they were working on a framework that could form the basis of an agreement, not reaching an agreement itself.

[adambr2]

Cynical me thinks the owners leaked this like it was a done deal just to make the players look bad when they reject it.

 

Looks like its working.

 

At this point I couldn't possibly think less of both sides than I already do.

[homer]

Here's what I don't get: Manfred and Clark meet, owners make an offer, it leaks that they are close to a deal, players say hold up, players make counter offer, owners say things are going backwards.

 

Why leak that you think things are going backwards? Just continue negotiating. I feel like there's a handful of hard core owners holding this thing up.

[SRB]

Sort of a bad look for fans to ever criticize the players for not putting themselves at risk during a global pandemic solely for our entertainment. We should be grateful they are negotiating at all.

[umphrey]

Sort of a bad look for fans to ever criticize the players for not putting themselves at risk during a global pandemic solely for our entertainment. We should be grateful they are negotiating at all.

 

Most of us are going to work every day

[nate82]

Sort of a bad look for fans to ever criticize the players for not putting themselves at risk during a global pandemic solely for our entertainment. We should be grateful they are negotiating at all.

 

They are the ones who want to play more games so yeah fans can criticize the players for this. If they were about not putting themselves at risk they would be advocating for less games but they are not. It is more about money than anything else.

[adambr2]

Sort of a bad look for fans to ever criticize the players for not putting themselves at risk during a global pandemic solely for our entertainment. We should be grateful they are negotiating at all.

 

I agree with you on just about everything you post but boy does this one miss the mark in so many ways in my respectful opinion.

 

1) Most of us have continued to work and put ourselves at risk as others have mentioned. I don't expect those who can afford not to to do the same, but I'm certainly not going to fall over myself in gratitude because the players are negotiating to play the game they get payed to play.

 

2) As was also mentioned, this is about money, not safety. And as with the NBA, anyone who genuinely feels unsafe to play will be allowed to stay home and not be paid. So again, 100% about the money, not about safety. If you really feel this is about player safety, I have to assume you haven't really been following negotiations at all.

 

3) With the kind of healthcare, constant access to testing and monitoring and restrictions that these guys will be subjected to, I have no idea in the world how you could possibly claim these guys are safer sitting at home enjoying their freedoms than playing under these restrictions.

[3and2Fastball]

 

3) With the kind of healthcare, constant access to testing and monitoring and restrictions that these guys will be subjected to, I have no idea in the world how you could possibly claim these guys are safer sitting at home enjoying their freedoms than playing under these restrictions.

 

Wait. What?! Of course they are safer at home, and socially distancing. How is that not obvious? And most of them have enough money for fantastic health care at home

[nate82]

This article from ESPN doesn't paint the players in a good light.

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29329357/union-proposes-70-game-plan-mlb-sources-say